Afghan Govt. to shut down Taliban Doha office

Qatar [Afghanistan], Feb 24 (ANI): Afghanistan has initiated discussions with Qatar to shut down the Taliban's office in Doha as it has failed to produce anything positive in terms of facilitating peace talks.

According to TOLO News, National Security Advisor Mohammad Hanif Atmar to President Ashraf Ghani said, "There is no need to keep the office open."

He remarked it in an interview with a daily newspaper in the Middle East Asharq Al-Awsat.

"The (Taliban's) Qatar office had no benefit for us even after seven years. We are discussing with Qatar government that this office had no positive result in the peace process and it is better to close it," Atmar said in the interview.

"The aim behind opening this office was to start official peace negotiations with the Taliban from the address, but so far no official negotiation from the office has been started with government. Even a single step has not been taken forward in the peace process through this office," Qadir Shah, a spokesman for Atmar's office said.

Atmar further added that Kabul has so far witnessed no sign of 'sincere' cooperation from Islamabad in counter-terrorism efforts.

This comes in the backdrop of the decision of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to put Pakistan on a grey list for terror financing.

Pakistan's traditional friends China along with Saudi Arabia withdrew their objections in putting Islamabad on the grey list.

In the final vote, only Turkey backed Pakistan.

The motion brought forth by the United States (US) was backed by the countries like the United Kingdom (UK), France, and India. (ANI)